5 Tips for Drying out After Water Damage

April 08, 2018
By
Lone Star Pro Services

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You return from a hard day’s work to see your home turned into a
mini water park—probably due to a burst water main or backed up
drain. Panic sets in. Your first action is to locate the main water stop
valve and turn it off. It is often placed in your basement near the front
foundation wall, the water heater or crawlspace if there is one.

What’s next? Here are five essential tips for drying out after major
water damage:

Extract – obviously, you should first try to get out as much water
as possible. You could get a cleaning company or do it yourself (you can
rent the equipment). The objective is to remove water from floors, carpets,
and furniture with the aid of vacuum pumps and extraction units.

Remove – wet carpet and furniture. You can restore the carpets after
drying except when the flooding was due to a sewer backup. Then it has
to be discarded. This is no easy task and is best handled by professionals.

Evaporate – the structural components of your home will be thoroughly
soaked with water. It’s critical you dry them out quickly to prevent
the growth of mold and bacteria. You can make use of fans, but the industrial
air movers used by professionals are more powerful and will get the job
done faster

Dehumidify – the process of evaporating excess water will raise the
humidity levels in your home. You should remove the excess moisture in
the air with the aid of industrial dehumidifiers. If you live in a dry
climate, opening the doors and windows will speed up the process.

Heat – you can increase the temperature of your homes to speed up
drying since warmer air helps dry things out faster. However, once the
temperature gets up to about 80 degrees, turn on the A/C as warm air will
hold more water. Repeat this process till your home is completely dry.

After drying out your home, it is crucial you disinfect the area to stop
mold and prevent bacterial growth. Ideally, this should be handled by
professionals with industrial strength disinfectants and tools to help
restore your home to its original state.